EU-Latin America trade sets record

A report published this week by the Latin Business Chronicle revealed that European Union trade with Latin America set a new record in 2010. Trade between the two regions jumped a full 31 percent last year to reach €177.3 billion (us$236.9 billion).

Meanwhile, one of the latest WikiLeaks revelations is that the United States now considers the Latin American Mercosur trade bloc as an “anti-American” organization. “Mercosur gradually has transformed from an imperfect customs union to a more restrictive and anti-American organization,” states one cable which summarizes the conclusions of a meeting of U.S. ambassadors which took place in Rio do Janeiro in 2007.

Watch for the relationship between the U.S. and its Latin American neighbors to grow cold as regional leaders from the Rio Grande to Terra del Fuego embrace new trade partners in Europe. As the Plain Truth magazine predicted in July 1965: “Flowing across the Atlantic to feed the hungry furnaces of the Ruhr and the other industrial complexes of Europe will come the rich mineral wealth of Latin America.”